4-Day Week Calculator
How much of your life would a 4-day week give back? Enter your hours, commute and salary to see what changes in time, money and free days — and what that adds up to over one, five or ten years.
What it works out
- Hours back each year, from shorter work weeks, less commuting and less time getting ready.
- Extra days off, each one a three-day weekend.
- Money saved on commuting, lunches and childcare, and the change in pay on a pro-rata schedule.
- Free time each week, out of 112 waking hours.
- Your real hourly wage: pay after work costs, divided by every hour the job takes, commute included.
- Commuting emissions avoided.
The schedules it compares
Each is compared against a standard five-day week.
- 4-Day Week: 32 hours over four days, at full pay — the 100-80-100 model. 418 open 4-Day Week roles
- Compressed Week: 40 hours in four 10-hour days, at full pay. 1358 open Compressed Week roles
- 9-Day Fortnight: 80 hours over nine days, so every other Friday off. 2562 open 9-Day Fortnight roles
- 4-Day Week (80%): 32 hours over four days, at 80% of your pay. 162 open 4-Day Week (80%) roles
You also choose how the 4-day job is worked — on-site, hybrid or remote — and how you commute today, so the result counts the round trips you would actually stop making.
An example
Someone working 40 hours over five days, 46 weeks a year, who drives 30 minutes each way at $10 a round trip and spends $12 a day on lunch and coffee, would get back about 437 hours a year on a 4-Day Week — 46 extra days off — and save about $1,012. Their real hourly wage would rise by about 27%. If the 4-day job were remote, that becomes about 621 hours and $2,852 a year.
How it is calculated
- Free time counts 16 waking hours a day, minus work, commuting and getting ready.
- Commuting savings come from the difference in round trips between your current week and the 4-day job.
- A pro-rata pay cut is counted after an estimated 30% tax, since it comes off take-home pay; savings are money you would simply stop spending.
- Emissions use approximate averages of 0.17 kg CO₂e per km by car and 0.06 by public transport, after UK government (DEFRA) conversion factors.
- Longer horizons multiply one year by five or ten, with no pay rises or inflation.